From NY1:Business owners in Willets Point rallied Saturday to demand road work be done in the area.
They want people to know they are still open for business but said the streets here are so bad that cars constantly get stuck in potholes, driving their business away.
In a statement, the City's Economic Development Corporation said, "We are committed to transforming the blighted area into a vibrant new great neighborhood."
So you think you can send them a letter reminding them to pay their taxes but then withhold basic services that those taxes pay for? Is this a strategy meant to put them out of business before you have to move them?
6 comments:
"In a statement, the City's Economic Development Corporation said, "We are committed to transforming the blighted area into a vibrant new great neighborhood.""
A) The area is NOT blighted. That's a term to justify eminent domain.
B) The area has been cheated out of basic city services. Yet, all businesses in the area have paid their full share of taxes for years.
C) The illegal, deliberate withholding of city services has been for the purpose of ultimately seizing the land.
D) This use of eminent domain is a practice run for the Commissar. He plans to serve his wealthy developer cronies by delivering to them whatever private property, anywhere in the city, that they believe will make them richer.
E) You think your home is safe? Think again. A vote for the Commissar's extra term is a vote that you cannot pass your property on to your children.
I believe the Willets Point folks found the solution - demand services for taxes rendered - sue the City if no response.
just give them there streets
It has been suggested by some that the neglect of Willets Point for the past several decades has not been deliberate. But continued neglect, after the problems have been well documented and publicized especially during the past year, can be due ONLY to deliberate neglect.
The Willets Point road conditions are beyond terrible, and inappropriate to any area of New York City. It is evident that people will continue to operate businesses at Willets Point for at least another couple of years; perhaps 8 years as some predict; or perhaps longer still. Therefore, there is absolutely no justification to continue to subject the businesses, the workers and their customers to conditions that none of us would tolerate in our own neighborhood. To allow the conditions to persist will indeed constitute deliberate neglect.
It is time that the people of Willets Point directly hold accountable the agency heads who control the withholding of essential services. My advice: Repeatedly confront the agency heads personally in newsworthy, lawful fashion, and you may begin to see the services delivered. Name their names; display their photographs. Challenge them to explain why they see fit to deny to you and your customers what they provide everywhere else in the City. And don't be afraid to state the obvious racist aspect of the neglect: The majority of affected people apparently are Latino.
Here's a start:
Department of Transportation
Janette Sadik-Khan, Commissioner
Photo available at:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/commcorner.shtml
Roadway Maintenance Deputy Commissioner
Joseph Cannisi
(212) 487-8420
DOT's Mission Statement (excerpt):
"The Department works to achieve the following goals:
Provide safe, efficient, and environmentally responsible movement of pedestrians, goods, and vehicular traffic on the streets, highways, bridges, and waterways of the City's transportation network;
Improve traffic mobility and reduce congestion throughout the City;
Rehabilitate and maintain the City's infrastructure, including bridges, tunnels, streets, sidewalks, and highways..."
Is DOT doing any of the above at Willets Point?
Here is the DOT website front page:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/html/about/about.shtml
Gee if that happens blighted old "grandma" Shulman will be out of a lucrative job....you too Evan!
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